How many devices can be connected to a single Access point?

[SandeepDaftor]

Hello, recently I moved from DAS planing (indoor cellular) to wifi planning and I have a question for Access point user capacity, you see the datasheet says it can handle 250 devices however I talked to many designers and they said most AP can handle between 30-50 devices, now I need to know how many devices I can connect to achieve a target of 8Mbps / device (I need a solid formula to convince my customer) , can you help me?

[Leo Laohoo]

The answer cannot be answered "accurately" because there are a lot of factors that is involved.
The type of traffic will also play a vital role:
If the traffic is emails and IM then 35 wireless clients per AP;
If the traffic is voice or video then 10 wireless clients per AP.

[Rasika Nayanajith]

You can use below capacity planner to get some numbers calculated

http://www.revolutionwifi.net/capacity-planner 

As Leo said, all depend on how end users use their devices and how much bandwidth required for each of those application. Adding more devices increase contention and reduce throughput drastically.

HTH

Rasika

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[Scott Fella]

Also just to add, you have different throughout depending on the channel width and then you are limited on 20mhz channel width on the 2.4ghz. You also have to look at the rf quality, what is the channel utilization and what did the ap and client negotiate at and how many client on that given ap. There are too many variables and that is why a rule of thumb like Leo mentioned is a good number to follow.